Emory protests: Students to rally on anniversary of pro-Palestine encampment arrests

Yahoo

22-04-2025

The Brief
Students and staff at Emory University are planning multiple days of rallies, protests, and teach-ins to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the clash between police and pro-Palestine protesters.
Authorities say 28 people were arrested after the university called the Atlanta Police Department and Georgia State Patrol to help remove an encampment on its quad.
This week's events will begin on Tuesday afternoon with a rally on the quad.
ATLANTA - This week marks one year since a clash between law enforcement and pro-Palestine protesters at Emory University, and students and staff are planning multiple days of activities to commemorate the anniversary.
A group of activists says the "Week of Action" will begin on Tuesday afternoon on Emory's quad.
The backstory
On April 25, 2024, a group of protesters set up camps and displays on the Emory quadrangle, saying the protest was in support of the people of Palestine and against the soon-to-be completed Atlanta Public Safety Training Center.
Emory officials said the protesters who had set up an encampment were trespassing on private property and refused to leave, leading the school to ask the Atlanta Police Department and Georgia State Patrol for assistance.
The officers used Tasers and pepper balls to bring the crowd under control. Several people were placed in handcuffs and loaded into vans. Authorities say 28 people were arrested in the chaos.
Video circulated widely on social media shows two women who identified themselves as professors being detained, with one of them slammed to the ground by one officer as a second officer then pushes her chest and face onto a concrete sidewalk.
The school claimed that the group were activists who were not connected with Emory, with a spokesperson claiming that the protesters were "attempting to disrupt our university as our students finish classes and prepare for finals." Days later, Emory President Gregory Fenves backtracked from that claim, saying it "was not fully accurate."
Dig deeper
In the days following the arrest, Fenves announced that the university would conduct a review of the events surrounding the protests to "develop recommendations to improve how we keep our community safe."
"Let me be clear: I am devastated that members of our community were caught up in law enforcement activity enforcing the removal of the encampment. The videos of these interactions are deeply distressing. I take Thursday's events very seriously and we are launching a thorough review of them so that we can develop recommendations to improve how we keep our community safe," Fenves wrote.
Following the arrests, a majority of both Emory's undergraduate students and the faculty senate for Emory's College of Arts and Science have voted in favor of a no-confidence referendum against Fenves.
In August, the school announced a change to its Open Expression Policy, banning students, staff, and faculty members from camping and protesting on campus between the hours of midnight and 7 a.m. and prohibiting all encampments and building occupations.
What's next
To commemorate the anniversary, multiple student activist groups plan four days of rallies, teach-ins, and protests on Emory's campus.
On Tuesday, there will be a rally at 2:30 p.m. on the quad. The groups will then host art installations on Wednesday and a teach-in and "field training day" on Thursday.
The event will culminate on Friday with a press conference at the DeKalb County Courthouse followed by another rally on the quad.
The Source
Information for this story came from a post by the Emory Divest Coalition and other activists groups as well as previous FOX 5 reporting.